The Disappearance of Naruto Uzumaki
by hachi hashi
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki has gone missing with only one witness to the events that have occurred. A Konoha shinobi who doesn't seem to exist.
1. An Interrogation

AN: This is just something I started writing for fun. :) It's an OC centric story with a bit of mystery to it. I'd love to draw a graphic novel/webtoon type thing with this OC one day, but for now I decided to place her in a story and explore her character a bit. Naruto himself will have a part in it later on though. If this character's character design reminds you a bit of Kay from my other fanfic Sleepless, it's because Aya was the original inspiration.

And no, I do not own Naruto. It's probably for the best though since I don't think I could stand working on one story for fifteen years.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter One: An Interrogation<span>

Down in the depths of the Torture and Interrogation department, there was a single person sitting tied up in the wide open room. Her arms and legs were tied down to the chair with coarse rope, restrictive seals slapped on top of her skin.

The teen herself looked like a mess. Her plain blue t-shirt and khaki shorts looked crumpled and stained, ratty brown hair falling out of its pony tail and making its way into the front of her face. Her blue eyes darted around the room, trying to detect sometime on the other side of the two way mirror. The Konoha headband that had hung around her neck had been confiscated, and for some reason one of her black ninja sandals were missing. The other coated in a layer if dried mud. Her fair skin seemed unnaturally pale, the bruises and cuts that littered it standing out dramatically.

She desperately licked her dried and cracked lips, waiting in silence for someone to finally enter the room. Ever since she'd been taken and brought to the underground compound, no one had spoken a word to her. Her last few days consisted of a cold damp jail cell and not enough food to ever fill her stomach. All she could do was wait for them to make their first move.

Eventually she got her wish, the previously untouched door on the far side of the room finally creaking open to echo throughout the large space. She had no idea how long they had made her wait in this room. No one was gracious enough to hang up a clock for the prisoners they were interrogating. She supposed the old blood stains were all the décor they were willing to add to the space.

The man that stepped inside to greet her was exactly the person she had been expecting. She knew him after all. Trained with him even. Her Sensei had wanted her team to be well prepared for what would happen if an infiltration mission had gone wrong. So they went to spend some time under the expert.

He walked over to stand in right front of the bolted down chair, prominent scars displayed out in the open. An intimidation tactic. Too bad she knew exactly what he was doing.

"State your name." Were the first words that came out of the man's mouth. He looked as calm and collected as could be, though she knew very well what was beneath that guarded expression. If given the context she could make some very accurate guesses.

Licking her cracked lips once more, she let out her raspy reply.

"Aya Otsuka."

He started slowly pacing front in of her, changing his direction every few feet. Her eyes followed along, watching as he scrutinized her pathetic state. Eventually he spoke again.

"State your village and rank."

This was something her interrogator knew well enough. But of course setting the base line was one of the first things you did in an interrogation. It usually showed how much the subject was willing to cooperate. How many lies they would tell right off the bat. How much pressure the subject could take before they cracked.

"Konohagakure. Chunin."

He kept pacing back and forth. If he kept this up, she was sure it was going to start to annoy her to no end that the man wouldn't stand still. But that was the point.

"I'll ask you again. State your village and rank."

She repeated herself again, a bit of frustration starting to creep up on her. That wasn't something that needed to asked twice. They didn't _need_ to ask twice.

"Konohagakure. Chunin."

He suddenly stopped moving, a barely concealed killing aura leaking out in droves.

"I'll give you one last chance. I suggest you take it while you can still speak properly."

Her eyes widened dramatically, not daring to breath. She knew he caught her reaction. There was no way he could not. But she was pretty sure it was for a very different reason than what he predicted.

Something was seriously wrong here. She had been interrogated once before. It was a couple years ago now, concerning the Sanin Orochimaru after he had invaded Konoha. He parents had ended up being traitors, so of course they would interrogate the daughter of those traitors. She was innocent, though with Orochimaru's recent activities they might have decided to talk to all of their former suspects once again. Even if this might have been a bit of overkill for something as simple as that.

But in the very least they could always be sure that she was from this village. It was an indisputable fact. Or at least it used to be.

"I'm a Chunin of Konoha."

He watched with a new expression on his face. One that told everything she needed to know through his eyes alone.

"I see you don't feel like talking."

He reached into his pack, pulling out an array of different knives along with the standard kunai. Some were rusty or had jagged edges, others surely to be covered in poison.

She wanted to scream at him. To cry out. To plead to end this charade. But she had too much training for that. She needed to know what was going on first. To act like nothing about this was starting to scare her.

Taking in a deep breath, she replied.

"I'm not really sure what you mean."

She licked her lips again, trying to look her interrogator in the eyes without flinching.

"I'm talking. And to add to that I'm even telling the truth."

His lips curled into a smile. A smile without any authenticity.

"You're a cheeky one I see."

She wanted to let him know she really wasn't. That this was an act she learned to put on for other people. But he of all people should have known that. He's the one who presented her the idea in the first place.

"I'm glad to see that you approve."

This comment was met with the opening of a floodgate of killing intent. She had trained enough not to show an outward reaction, but inwardly she was shaking. This was a man who never messed around. If she was smart would get her answer before he was too fed up with her back talk.

"Not that this isn't fun,"

She tried to her expression schooled and not drawn into her internal feelings.

"But I was wondering if you could explain something to me before we continue on."

Ibiki took his time with answering. No doubt just to prolong her suffering.

"That would depend."

She was feeling a new burning desperation for a real answer the longer he delayed. Licking her cracked lips one more time, she held herself together enough to ask what it really was she wanted to know.

"Why am I here? Last time I checked I haven't committed treason or done anything to hurt the village."

The air in the room suddenly chilled by several degrees.

"Really."

She knew who she was. She had nothing to hide from them. She was not a criminal, not some traitor who would hurt the people she cared for.

"Yes. _Really_."

"Then where-"

Aya tried not to flinch as a kunai came dangerously close to slicing open her throat. They needed her for whatever reason. They wouldn't kill her just yet.

"Is Naruto Uzumaki?"

She did a double take on that question, her eyes involuntarily widening once again. Of all things to ask her, that wasn't what had she expected.

Because she had no idea who that was.


	2. The Game Begins

AN: I'm sorry for the long amount of time it's taken for me to update this thing. ^^; I've been trying to work on my other story as a priory, but the current chapter I've been working on has been really difficult for me to write. I thought I might as well take a break from that and work on this instead! This chapter was cut shorter than I wanted, but I thought I should post something after so long. And also, it's important for you to know that any names that are the same between this fanfic and my other one Sleepless, are not of the same characters. Just consider them people from different universes. The characters from this fic existed first even though this was written later, and I used them for characters for my my other fic as a sort of inside joke. I never actually planned on writing it out one day, but I guess things change. Well anyway, enjoy! :)

* * *

><p><span>Chapter Two: The Game Begins<span>

Aya had to forcibly repress the shudder that threatened to run rapid throughout her body. They wouldn't like her answer. They wouldn't like it at all. All that would happen moving forward would be mind games to try and pry out information from her that she didn't even have.

Her thoughts started racing, heart pounding loudly in her chest to the extent that she could swear that her interrogator could hear it as well. She'd have to draw on everything she'd learned on interrogation if she wanted to get herself out of this one.

But first she had to calm herself down and think it through.

Aya took in a deep breath, trying to ignore Ibiki's hovering stare.

At this point they didn't have any faith in her as a credible source. She needed to fix that quickly if she wanted to be able to do more than have her boy slowly carved up piece by piece . She needed to know what was going on here and why. There was no reason to share information with a supposed criminal, but if they saw her as something more than that, then things might start moving in a direction that led away from her eternal incarnation, or possible execution. It depended on how emotional they were over this matter.

Two could play at this game. Sure one of them had a significant more amount of experience in this area, but she'd had a chance to train with the best. So by proxy she was one of the best too.

Or at least for the next several hours she had to convince herself she was. If she lost confidence in herself at such a crucial moment, the only path left would be being cut open and locked up for the rest of her life.

Sometimes you just had to fake it until you make it.

Returning Ibiki's harsh glare with one of her own, she evenly let out her reply, trying to ignore the feeling of cold metal on skin.

"Look sir, I think there's been some sort of mix up. "

Her skin started to prickle as the blade moved closer.

Ibiki sneered.

"You really expect me to believe that?"

Aya tied to resist the sudden urge to swallow as in her peripheral she saw him reaching with his free hand into back into his pack.

"There are people who can confirm my identity. They know me. They'll tell you I would never do what I believe you're implying."

He said nothing.

She took his lack of reply as a sign to continue.

"My Jonin sensei Katsumi Yamaguchi. My teammates Toshi Mori and Jun Mitarashi. Etsu Arishima, my best friend. I live with her family. Heck, you can even ask the Sanin Jiraiya if you want to. My team has been assisting him and his network for the last few months."

His face morphed into a chilling feral grin.

"Is that so?"

…

Unknown to her, on the other side of the two way mirror another discussion quickly sprang into being just as the last name was listed off.

Tsunade turned to face the four others standing in the small crowded concrete room with her, the clear sign of burning distrust shown on her face.

"I don't like it. Why list a Sanin on your list of references? The others, if they exist, could be put under genjutsu assuming she has the skills necessary to do so. But doing the same to one of the Sanin I would be hard pressed to believe."

Inochi looked contemplative as he replied.

"Maybe it's an attempt to up her credibility."

Shikaku snorted.

"If so, then this was clearly the wrong move."

Tsunade let the room quickly drown back down to silence before directing out her orders.

"Shizune, get me the files of the names listed immediately. I want to see if any of these claims or future claims holds any sort of credibility."

The woman snapped to attention.

"Ma'am!"

"Kakashi, how long until Jiraiya arrives?"

Kakashi stood slouched leaning against the concrete wall next to the single door in the small space, a clear tension underlying his relaxed posture. His signature book was missing and his eyes were mostly glued to the subject on the other side of the glass.

"Two hours, maybe three now. He messaged via toad saying he was just outside the village border."

Tsunade gave him a sharp nod, turning back around to look at the girl on the other side of the mirror. The shinobi who called herself Aya either had a strong desire for pain or had some decent acting skills. She wouldn't last much longer though. They couldn't afford to take their time when Naruto is missing and was being held god knows where. That was assuming that he was still alive. She wouldn't stand for it.

"Inochi."

The man snapped to attention.

"If things don't improve soon I'll need you to go in there."

He looked back at his Hokage, body language showing obvious hesitation.

"Ma'am. From what we've able to gather while the subject was unconscious, it is most likely she is well trained to resist such measures. It could break her mind in the process if I force it."

She leveled him with a sharp glare.

"I don't care what it takes. Finding one of our own takes top priority."

I went unspoken just how important that person was.

…

Aya watched with an unnaturally blank expression as Ibiki switched over to a more relaxed mode and seemed to contemplate her words. _Contemplate_ though seemed like a strong word for her to use right now. It was difficult to tell if he was just prolonging the verdict or was actually giving her declaration some real thought. Her hopes weren't all that high for the latter.

To her surprise, the kunai was slowly pulled away from her throat as he simultaneously removed his other hand from inside the pack, a small line of warm blood trickling down her neck in its place. Instinctually she moved her hand to wipe it away, but she was quickly reminded of her situation as the coarse binding held her arm in position.

He slowly wiped the bloody kunai clean on her shirt fabric, inspecting it closely with an amount of casualness that made her sick.

"And what will you do once these references of yours turn out to be false?"

Aya took in a shallow breath.

"I'll answer your questions willingly."

She almost smirked at the next line her desperate mind had made up.

"That is on the condition that you don't go crazy with the slicing and dicing in the process of course."

Ibiki spun the kunai around his finger, seeming quite amused with himself for the moment.

"No guarantees."

He slammed the it down on the armrest on the chair, the kunai barely missing slicing off one of her fingers. All she could do was stare down at the gleaming metal for a good few seconds, mind numbly wondering how much of her would be left by the end of this.

Because there never really were any guarantees in this game. A promise from him would have seemed faked anyway. She knew him too well. He was a sadist through and through. He gave just to take away, but games like those usually took days to complete. You give a sense of security just to break it later on and break the person along with it.

Whatever he wanted, he wanted it now. He wasn't in the mood to play.

But somehow she had to get him to join in a game of her own.

"Understood."


End file.
